Liquid Calories: Train Your Tastebuds To Hate Added Sugar!

Milkshakes, tea, iced tea, coffee, flavoured water, fruit juice – it’s everywhere with no incentives other than potential health risks. How to retrain your artificially sweet brain!

Now, I’m not going to say it’s simple. Definitely not easy. Overnight? Let’s not go loco there. But is it worth it? 100%. You’re going to wish you did it sooner.

In the past, when it comes to liquid calories, I’d be conscious when it comes to fizzy drinks, iced tea and natural fruit juices even. So I’d keep them to a minimum but when I started drinking black tea I was very naughty. I’d just pour endless sugar into the cup and eyeball it. Taste, then add more sugar.

Terrible, I know. I wouldn’t even measure how many spoonfuls it equates to!

I talked to a friend at the time who was also luckily enough, a medical doctor. Coincidental or a sign from god, you tell me!

And they mentioned how they’ve been on a no sugar diet for a year or two now. I laughed, thought they were having me on but they reassured me that’s the case. I asked how? And it must be difficult, surely?

I was told it was and is difficult at the start, then overtime your body and tastebuds get used to it and there are natural sweeteners after all. This conversation changed my life, for the better I must admit.

I then made a conscious effort to only have tea with one sugar, even though it tasted dreadful, then a few days later, half a sugar; if my tastebuds could’ve expressed every expletive under the sun, oh it would’ve profusely…

Then a week or so later, I then tried no sugar. Bitter, torturous almost filling me with literal liquid disgust. Not calories, oh no pure foul dishwater. Fair, reasonable alternative? Hell no. But in time, I grew to love the savoury, heartwarming mug of bland but great and healthier tea!

I branched out into green tea; if I can hack this, I’m unstoppable! Seriously though!

My fave is the Clipper Green Tea. Cheap and cheerful whilst being organic! Shop here.

Green tea, I’m not going to lie, is a different type of bitter. You can taste that it’d be good for cleansing your body if you know what I mean. It takes like it can fight off germs and bacteria. A natural antibiotic if you like. So don’t be expecting a cotton candy, addictive taste… even now I don’t really crave green tea, I just drink it purely due to its long list of health benefits; promote weight loss; blood sugar regulation; disease prevention; exercise recovery. Also promotes skin and liver health, reduce blood fat levels, regulate blood pressure, and improve brain health – it’s not an unbearable taste, just an acquired questionable one!

If you can’t hack sugar free, honey is a great naturally derived sweetener (manuka or raw honey). Rich in antioxidants? Antibacterial and antifungal properties, heals wounds, soothes sore throat and/or cough, brain benefits – it’s all round a phytonutrient powerhouse!

Taking note of the food and delights we consume within the duration of the day, the least we can pay extra attention to is what we’re drinking. After all, water is best – sugar free and costs absolutely nothing. Winning!

What do you think? Do you add sugar to your daily habitual drinks? Do you drink green tea or add sugar to your tea / coffee? Comment below!